Ease on Down the (Weird) Road

How about a nice glass of… Kerner?

That’s not the producer. That’s the grape.  

We hit you with the easy, approachable Riesling last time, so we might as well take it to the next level with a wine that’s made from a grape that’s the bastard offspring of Riesling and a grape called Trollinger. Now, in and of itself, that’s no big deal. People breed grapes all the time. But Riesling is a white grape, and Trollinger is a red grape. And that, you have to admit, is pretty weird. So. Kerner.

But what does it taste like?

Yeah, ok. It tastes a lot like Riesling. But it’s meatier. This is another one of those white wines for people who usually drink red wines. Put this in a black cup, and I’ll guess that at least 40% of people would guess it’s a red wine. It’s still got a little petrol on the nose, and tastes of mango and pineapple, with some residual sugar, but there’s an umami thing going on, too, that makes it not just fun to drink, but fun to think about, too. (Imagine what that Riesling would taste like with a quarter drop of soy sauce added—and you’ve got Kerner.)

This particular example is from Italy, which makes it even weirder. It’s from the Alto Adige, up near Switzerland. Oh, and it’s made at a monastery—the Abbazia di Novacella, an Augustinian monastery.

Overall, a killer wine, and a huge bargain for the price.  

The wine: Kerner, Abbazia di Novacella

The vintage: 2013

The score: 9.0/10

The price: $20-$25

The source: Whole Foods Mothership

How weird is it? It’s pretty weird. Not the weirdest monastery wine—not by a long shot—but between the taste and the story, we’ll say it’s a 6/10.